Would You Rather…? The Hilarious Game for All Ages by Julian Flanders. 1/5
Would You Rather be humiliated or get to humiliate other people? Make fun of disabled people or consider them fodder for pity? The questions posed by this book for what is supposed to be “hilarious” conversation starters or games are unfortunately mostly just awful and thoughtless. Play something else instead.
Greco-Roman Medicine and What It Can Teach Us Today by Nick Summerton. 1/5
You know, when at the very beginning of a book the author makes false claims and sweeping statements of questionable veracity as well as insults, it might not make the read want to continue. But continue I did, alas, and found this full of a mix of fact and opinion about ancient Greece and Rome and their medical practices. Wikipedia honestly has better written and more in-depth and factual information on the topics, and is free, so I recommend readers go there instead of wading through this.
An Impossible Impostor by Deanna Raybourn. 3/5
I like this series quite a lot, but have to say that the complications raised by this installment feel forced. We learn more about Veronica’s past, Stoker gets pensive, there are the usual unpleasant villains and unpleasant side characters (NPCs), and a lot of uncertainty about who is on whose side and who is betraying whom and in the end everyone gets betrayed, maybe, and ends with Veronica setting off on more adventures and to track down Stoker. It’s not bad, but it’s not as good as some of the earlier books in the series.
The Midwife’s Secret by Emily Gunnis. 1/5
Honestly, any book that begins with someone hiding another human in a small, enclosed space in a house is just not going to end well, and of course it will involve that small, enclosed space. So if you had you fill with Sarah’s Key a few years back and/or are claustrophobic, you can give this one a miss. Even if you’re not, you can still give it a miss: it’s not particularly compelling, and the characters are pretty flat, and of course there’s not much tension because after all you know what’s going to happen or has happened or is happening in that small, enclosed space.
Abbott: 1973 by Saladin Ahmed. 5/5
Abbott: 1973 is a superb collection of several issues of the comic. Detroit reporter and general badass Elena Abbott is covering the mayor’s election when she finds herself faced with a gross and sexist boss, the return of the umbra–a malevolent power used by white supremacists to try to bring down the city’s first viable Black mayoral candidate–and the local mob. As always, the storytelling is tight and the characters are deep and resonant. My only quibble is the lettering style, in which Us often look like and L and an I, causing some difficulty reading quickly.. Words like CUT don’t do well in this lettering style.
Such a Pretty Smile by Kristi DeMeester. 4/5
A nice horror-thriller that builds on the fact that no one listens to women–instead, we’re silenced, locked away, ignored. The intergenerational aspect of the novel and the class issues it raises add to the book’s depth and range, and the settings are suitably spooky.
Fire Is Not a Country by Cynthia Dewi Oka. 4/5
This is a rich and powerful collection of poetry, scripts, and prose poems chronicling the passages of life and time, and grappling with pain, displacement, and anger. The writing is lush, sometimes going a little too far beyond metaphor and threatening to lose the track altogether, but broadly readable and engaging. The author’s various genres encourage readers to think about the meaning of form and genre, and how it shapes our reading.
Destroyer of Light by Jennifer Marie Brissett. 3/5
In this clear hat-tip to Octavia Butler, humans and aliens co-exist in a world reminiscent of modern-day Nigeria under Boko Haram control, where women are stolen by gangs of men to become their slaves. Told from several perspectives, the novel follows Cora, a girl torn from her community; a pair of brothers who seek a child kidnapped into sex trafficking; and others trying to find their way in a violent and unpredictable place and time. Readers should be aware that there is a lot of rape and butchery within, and that. ultimately, the narrative may not really be worth grappling with those things–I found it to drag and to be a bit trite, a disappointment given the set-up and possibilities available to the author.
Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett. 5/5
I loved this wry and imaginative and funny and sad book. I love the Thornton Wilder-esque chorus of ghosts in the cemetery, the characters with hidden depths, the absurdity of small-town life, the parents grappling–or not–with age and decline, the young characters exploring a mystery, the dedication of the dying father to a missing girl, the savvy schoolkids–everything and everyone in the book. I know people will complain about using Clive’s dementia for laughs, but I found it to be handled very well. My mom died of Lewy Body dementia, which has symptoms like what Clive experiences, and I know that you have to just roll with patients’ hallucinations and ideas and not to argue with them. This is a novel about joy in living and finding joy in your surroundings and making life work, and I can’t wait to talk about it with other readers.
The Last Speaker of Skalwegian by David Gardner. 1/5
Was this written in the 1970s or 80s? Was it not edited? Because it’s one of the most sexist and gender-stereotyped and ugly things I’ve read in a while. The author’s bio says he has a PhD, but seems not to know at all how academia works. He certainly doesn’t know how to write anything without leaning heavily on double entendre, outdated and stale descriptions of women’s bodies, or cliches. I can’t believe anyone liked this.
Shapers of Worlds Volume II by Edward Willett. 5/5
I really enjoyed this collection in which the focus is not on heroic deeds. daring missions, or technology, but on the development of worlds and settings. There are a number of gems here, including The Cat and the Merrythought by Matthew Hughes, The Little Tailor and the Elves by Barbara Hambly, and stories by Carrie Vaughan, Kelly Armstrong, Garth Nix, Helen Dale, and Marie Brennan. There’s something for everyone here, and the collection has spurred me to find other works by the authors in it.
Under Her Skin by Edited by Lindy Ryan & Toni Miller. 5/5
This poetry collection is brilliant and visceral and filled to the brim with gore and horror and pain. I had to read little bits at a time so that I didn’t either get repulsed or numb. The poems are diverse and amazing, ranging from the near-epic to the intimate, and from differing points of view and cultural backgrounds, If you’re a fan of body horror, this book will convince you that poetry is an excellent medium for it.
How to Date a Flying Mexican by Daniel A. Olivas. 3/5
This is a solid collection of fables, stories, lists, and other short, magical writings from author Daniel A. Olivas. I found some of the stories amusing and some sad, but mostly I was intrigued by those that ended abruptly–and there were several–and why the author had made those choices. These short pieces tantalize, provoking the reading into wondering “what next?”, all while feeling appropriately complete.
Christmas Past by John Adcox. 4/5
This is a sweet Christmas ghost story with an unusual take on the traditional hitchhiking ghost genre. The characters are not exactly deep or developed, but they don’t need to be for the story, which is a nice homage to the English tradition of ghost stories at Christmas. It’s a quick and easy read, perhaps best done with a cup of tea on a winter night.
A Woman’s Voice by Script by Aude Mermilliod, Martin Winckler & art by Aude Mermilliod. 5/5
This is a brilliant graphic novel about listening to women and women’s healthcare with excellent characters and an easily-predicted but nonetheless satisfying conclusion. If only all doctors could listen and communicated with patients the way Dr. Karma does! Jean, a newly trained doctor, finds herself in a complicated emotional place as she shadows the doctor, trying to figure out what he’s doing that helps his patients trust him, As she learns, so does the reader. Numerous patients speak of their fears and desires, providing insight into their lives and needs from their caregivers. Ultimately we learn that Jean is intersex, and what that means and how medical professionals approach it, broadening readers’ understandings of why reproductive healthcare is important for everyone.
